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Deputies uncover new evidence in Tricia Todd slaying

Karl Nelson, a sergeant with the Martin County Sheriff's Office Forensic Science Unit, looks over evidence markers where nine human teeth were found near the site where Tricia Todd's remains were buried site on June 1, 2016 at the Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area in Hobe Sound. Todd's ex-husband, Steven Williams, confessed to her slaying and is being held in the Martin County Jail.(Photo: MOLLY BARTELS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

MARTIN COUNTY — Divers with the county Sheriff's Office on Wednesday found a chain saw, a reciprocating saw, pliers and nine human teeth near the area where 30-year-old Tricia Todd's remains were located last week.

After sonar on Tuesday detected objects in a canal that could have been used to dismember her body, deputies returned Wednesday to Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area near the Palm Beach County line where days ago they dug up a large plastic container full of acid containing Todd's partial remains.

Todd had been missing since April 26. Her former husband, Steven Williams, 30, confessed on May 24 to killing her. In exchange for a 35-year prison sentence, Williams agreed to show deputies where he left her body. But after deputies uncovered her remains, it became obvious to them the slaying was premeditated, Sheriff William Snyder said.

Martin County's dive team and a forensics team spent Wednesday trying to locate items that could be related to Todd's killing. They removed an alligator from the canal, and found only wooden boards during their first dive, but resurfaced minutes later with a pair of pliers.

The pliers had most likely been used for the extraction of Todd's teeth, Snyder said.

Martin County Sheriff's Office dive team member Angelo Minella (right) brings up a blade June 1, 2016 at the Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area in Hobe Sound. Minella and fellow diver Justin Lundstedt (left) were searching the canal for evidence in the Tricia Todd murder case.(Photo: MOLLY BARTELS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

'If the lab determines the teeth were Tricia's,' Snyder said, 'it would seem apparent that they were removed by Steven Williams for the purpose of frustrating our investigators in their attempts to identify Tricia's remains.'

The teeth were found north of the area where Todd's remains were found, on the bank where a diver was about to enter the water.

Divers later found the two saws in the water.

Snyder earlier had speculated that a chain saw or other battery-operated tool had been used in Todd's killing. He said the evidence found Wednesday further corroborates detectives' original hypothesis that Todd's death was premeditated.

The tools had hair on them they suspect are Todd's, Snyder said. They will be doing DNA tests comparing it to other samples from the remains.

Because of the lack of blood in the house where deputies believe Williams killed Todd, Snyder said Todd was most likely strangled.

Martin County Sheriff's Office dive team member Angelo Minella (left) hands evidence retrieved from a canal in the Tricia Todd case June 1, 2016, to Detective Sgt. Tommy Neild (right) at the Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area in Hobe Sound. Two saws, pliers and nine teeth were found in or near the canal.(Photo: MOLLY BARTELS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

'He used his hands. We say that because there was no blood evidence in her home. Everything was consistent with him having killed her without shedding blood,' Snyder said.

Because of the plea deal, Snyder said he's not sure that any of the evidence uncovered will be of use in court, but they still wanted to try to uncover more material. He said there's a possibility of future prosecution in the case because Williams is in the military, and in that case, Snyder said, the evidence found could be used.

'We're all working here at this end, and it's gratifying to us,' Snyder said. 'We are mystery solvers in my industry. Our goal is to find out answers and to try to find out what happened.

'We could have stopped at the plea deal and discovering remains and moved on, but we didn't think that was appropriate.'